Insurance Companies

The way insurance companies determine rates is wrong in many ways. I don't really worry about much of it as I have no insurance of any kind. I don't own a home, so no home owner insurance. I can't afford the high costs of health insurance, so I go without treatments I need. I got rid of my car and take public transportation when gas reached $2 a gallon over three years ago, so I don't have to worry about vehicle insurance, either. With the astronomical cost of insurance today; one finds it hard to simply survive.

Rob, so does mean we should just do with out cars, health insurance, home insurance because the insurance companies are unethical?
Keep on going on ;-o

Yes, I agree. Here is my little insurance story. We received a bill stating that we had not made our October payment & now needed to make a double payment. I made it right away & wondered why we hadn't received the October bill. Then we went to Minnesota to visit family over Thanksgiving and came home to a letter stating that our insurance had been cancelled because they had received the double payment too late (what?!). So we found out that our entire driving trip to Minnesota was with NO insurance.
So, since we just found out about this, we rushed to the insurance co. to get our insurance re-instated. Well lo & behold...since we went over 10 days without insurance....our rates went up $40 dang dollars A MONTH!
I was Livid....but had to pay, cuz we needed insurance.
I so dislike insurance companies.

I don't think it's right, and my insurance companies have credited back my accounts for doing so...because of a class action lawsuits against them..

Which ones are those Randee?
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I can not go with out car insurance, the state of CT frowns on that! I live in the country, so a car is needed, no mass transit here. I do ride my bike when weather is permitted
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Karen I totally agree with you, car insurance people have be doing this practive for years! My car is paid off too, no accidents, no tickets, and I drive very little right now and I pay 1200 a year, tell me this is right!
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Insurance. A contracted policy purchased by the consumer to protect himself against risk or ruin. A lot of people can not afford these policies, especially the car insurance, and quite frankly its a shame. I went without car insurance for a good solid 3 years. It was cheaper to pay the ticket and get my car out of impound when I got pulled over than it was to pay the ridiculous monthly fee. At that point I was at the time of my life where I had the LEAST amount of money, and was in the "statistical category" that inflated the amount of money I had to pay to get car insurance, yet, the law said I MUST have insurance. Lo and behold if I had bought insurance in those days I would have to either not eat...or live in a shelter...that was my choice...so I chose to say fu!@# your law, and I ate, and I slept, and I drove rather carefully...accept for when I passed an ambulance on the highway that was going 45 with his sirens on and I got pulle dover. Either way still cheaper!

To answer your question in regards to the FICO score...the law in CT says we MUST have insurance....does this mean you have to have good credit to drive? I see a major snowball effect in the works here. If you need good credit to get good insurance, I see a whole new door for predatory practices...instead of lending, it will be with insurance policies. People with bad credit will be forced to take out sh!tty policies that will ultimatley mean they will pay more in the long run, hell can you imagine an adjustable rate insurance policy? Or even worse FAKE policies? Imagine that? Someone thinks they are covered only to find out they never eally had insurance in the first place? Its gonna get nuts if they close the door to a vast number of people...yet tell them they must go through that door or land in jail. How the hell does that make sense?

Hey, Marv its already happening! Predatory insurance practice have been in vogue for years and years. While we are on the subject, if your FICO score drops; your credit card interest has a good chance of increasing. Regardless, of whether you pay on time or not! There is big hubabaloo going on about this subject right now!
In Nevada, if you don't have insurance, the insurance company sends a notice to DMV to the like and then you get a fine in the mail and you can not re-instate you registration until you show proof of insurance. They (the man) gets you coming and going!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I can understand the interest rates increasing in your credit cards, if your FICO drops, you are a higher risk. PLus there is no law that says you HAVE to have one, and the paperwork you signs says its subject to change so I don't find that predatory at all...but the insurance thing is a double edged sword for the consumer.....the credit card...well thats a matter of education, greed, and reading what you sign...two totally different subjects. :) hey we can make two conversations about it and get more points! lol

the predatory element in the credit card issue is that people who have been paying on time however their credit card interest increased because the customer opened another account and that makes the FICO drop. Now when you open a new account, the account shows as a open balance on your credit which is the indicator for lowering the FICO. Now, once you make a payment then your FICO rises again.Talk about predatory, so you end up with a higher interest on old card, open balance on new card and a lower FICO score. Be very careful when it comes to credit of any type or Inquiries which through no fault of your own can also lower your FICO and raise our interest on credit cards, or make it difficult to buy a house with a good interest rate!
Just thought everyone should know the simple but obscure facts
Keep on going on ;-o,

Depends. Sometimes opening the account can actually make your FICO go up or down. Depending on the ratio of how much debt you already have as opposed to how much credit you have available to you, how many inquiries it took for you to find someone to give you the credit, etc etc. Also making the payment on time does not necessarily make your FICO rise, that also depends on how much credit you decided to plop onto that card in the first place. Making the payment on time may or not make the Fico RISE. The reason the interest goes up is gain because you openend another card, and another inquiry on your report, you pose a higher risk of not paying the future. You are right though....the fact that the rate goes up when your score goes down, but does not go back down when your score comes up...now that can be looked at as predatory...however, if you make a phone call to the company and see that your score did in fact go up..there is a good chance they will lower the rate as opposed to riskingyou closing the account. Aint credit grand?? ugh!

How come this issue is going in front of Senate Marvin, the point is that people make an agreement with the credit card to make timely payments which they have but because their FICO goes down the credit card company raises the rate on the card. The consumer has done everything correct within the agreement of the contract however the credit card company is lacking in their due diligence in following the terms of the contract,
Keep on going on ;-o
Good debate thank you

It can be looked at in two ways.

A. The issue is going in front of congress because the majority of the "people" whose rates went up due to dropping FICO's are the very people who didn't read what they signed in the first place and continued to take out credit cards therefore increasing there risk factor, and are now taking the current state of political tension as a way of using there vote as the ante for them to get there way.

OR

B. The issue is going in front of congress because the credit crisis going on with the mortgage market is now starting to trickle to the Credit Card market, the banks are loosing so much money in the Mortgage market they are trying to make up for it by taking advantage of those whose FICOs went down, especially those who are now in Foreclosure or delinquent on there mortgage. They are pointing these dropping FICO's, highering the interest rates in attempt to make up for there losses, at the cost of suffocating the consumers! AND WE AREN'T GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!



Take your pick :) I guess it depends who you work for don't it? Oh and by the way I didn't think we were debating, we were both just droppping simple facts :) you smart cookie you!

Hey you have be one to know one!
Keep on going on ;-o

I don't think it's right

no Tanya, it is not right, the credit card problem, insurance,gas prices etc, it seems that the big guys can do what ever they want and make money to boot. I am not happy with the lack of ethics in corporate america.
Keep on going on ;-o

Ten unsolicited points for you, Merry whatever you celebrate.